Fire guts another building in Lagos

Barely 48 hours after two buildings were razed in Ebute Meta area of Lagos, a storey building was on Thursday gutted by fire on Igando Road, Ikotun area of the state.

It was learnt that the fire which torched the building on 64, Igando Road, Unity Bus Stop, Ikotun, was caused by an electrical fault on the first floor.

Our correspondent who visited the scene observed that the fire destroyed over half of the first floor which has four-room self-contained apartments.

It was gathered that the inferno which started some minutes after 10am spread quickly as a set of cushion chairs on the corridor where the electrical fault occurred caught fire.

Eyewitnesses said two children whose parents were not around when the fire started were trapped in the building but were evacuated by neighbours with a ladder through the window of their apartment.

One of the victims, Anthony Bamidele, said the quick intervention of firefighters of the Lagos State Fire Service prevented the whole building from being consumed by the ravaging fire.

Anthony said, “As soon as I heard the spark, I went outside to see what was happening and surprisingly, I saw that there was fire already. Before, I came back from where I went to get a bowl of water to quench it the whole place had gone up in flames.

“I immediately dashed to my apartment to save my two-month-old baby and my other two children. They were evacuated through the entrance of the backyard.”

Anthony’s wife, Jennifer, said the incident was a big loss to her especially because it came at the dawn of the New Year.

“I thank God that none of us sustained any form of injury or died as a result of the inferno,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Lagos State Fire and Safety Service has said it quenched no fewer than 33 fires across the state between Tuesday and Thursday.

The Director of the service, Mr. Fadipe Idowu, said this during a telephone interview with our correspondent on Thursday.

Idowu explained that the upsurge of fire incidents in the state could be attributed to the change in weather and climate.

He said, “On Tuesday, we responded to 15 cases of fire outbreak while on Wednesday, we responded to 16 cases. On Thursday again, we responded to two cases of fire outbreak, one along Ikotun-Igando Road and one at Ajara Market, Badagry.

“The rise in cases of fire is due to the dry season which causes fire to burn faster as well as the climatic changes.”

He advised members of the public to take safety precautions especially with electrical appliances as many of the recent fires were caused by electrical power fluctuations.

Idowu, who observed that most of the fire outbreaks were at night, advised people to avoid using candles at their homes because of the risk involved.

People have to be extra-ordinary careful in this country, people are endangering their lives day by day and the country is no longer safe.The reporter”s point of view is different from the people”s view about the occurence that happened.They is no replica for one”s lives,if you die , you die, people should try not to risk life and property in this country.

Columnists

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